Inventions
by Evil-Pixie-Dust
Summary: When Bobble challenges Terence to a flying machine race, he's risking everything. His reputation, his pride, and most importantly, his emotions. Tinkerbell doesn't want him to race Terence. But, he goes through with it anyway. Can he survive? Tink/Bobble


1Another one? Why not, since this will be the last thing I get to write for a while. School restarted today. Insert pitiful whimpering noises here...

I'm big into love confessions, so disregard my other one-shot for this pairing. Totally different. Don't think of it when reading this.

So, here we go...Review

(By the way, this is from Bobble's POV)

**Inventions**

Did you know that fairies have award ceremonies? We do. It's quite an event. The awards are always great too, but that's probably incentive to make us fairies work harder.

Let's see, there's the "Most Ladybugs Painted" award and the "Best with Baby Animals" award (that one always goes to Fawn). In short, there are awards for each individual talent. In fact, I've won the "Best Invention" award since I've been a tinker.

Okay, that's a lie. I had won that award _until_ Tinkerbell showed up. After that, she has been the award's recipient. Not that I mind. I don't mind at all. I suppose my reign as genius had to end at some point, right?

However, this year was the beginning of a _new_ award. The award is general, and by general, I mean it's not aimed at any particular talent. This year, Queen Clarion offered the "Biggest Impression" award. This new award was supposed to go to the fairy that had left the biggest impression on Pixie Hollow for something they've done over the year. To sum it all up, it's a popularity reward.

My first impression was "Big deal. It's not important." The other fairies, however, were in the biggest tizzy over it. The most interesting part, in my opinion, was that most of the fairies were more interested in who was going to receive it, rather than actually getting it themselves.

To my sincerest displeasure, I learned who their favorite candidate was after sitting for a spell with Tink and her friends.

"Did you hear about the new award?" Silvermist asked excitedly, clapping her hands together.

Fawn looked up from tickling the belly of one of her butterflies. "You mean the popularity award?"

I smirked to myself, glad to know that I wasn't the only one that thought about it that way.

"Oh, sugar-plum, don't think about it that way. I mean you've really got to do something special to get that award," chimed Rosetta from her spot in our social circle. She was placing tiny flowers in Iridessa's hair for her date that night. I never got the guy's name, so don't bother asking. I wasn't too interested.

The light fairy rolled her eyes. "That award would've been appropriate for Tinkerbell's first year, but not now."

Tink, who was sitting to my left, blushed in that adorable way she does and shrugged. "Guys, don't say things like that. That grand save of mine was more of a necessity than an accomplishment."

"But, Tink," Silvermist pouted, "It was still amazing." The rest of the girls added their two cents of agreement and I felt it my place, and my privilege, to say, "Aye, indeed it was amazing."

She looked at me and began to blush a deeper shade of red. When I saw her face I couldn't help but blush in return. We both looked away and I couldn't help but notice the other girls give the two of us funny looks. You know, the look that girls give when they think there's something more to what they see, while they giggle at it on the inside. Yeah, that look.

Tinkerbell cleared her throat and rejoined the conversation with excitement in her voice. "Getting back on subject, do you know who I think is going to win?"

I closed my eyes at this point, leaned back against the base of the tree we were next to, and continued to half-listen.

A chorus of curiosity erupted from the girls.

"Well," Tinkerbell continued, "Terence is trying to make a flying machine that's completely propelled by pixie dust!"

I shot up, eyes snapping open, and looked at Tink with perturbed disbelief. "Terence is...tinkering?"

The love of my life just looked at me in shock for a moment, then got a sickeningly dreamy look in her eyes as she responded, "Yeah...I guess he is."

"But...but...but...he's not a tinker!" I shot back, trying to get that look out of her eyes.

I turned when I heard Fawn chuckle from the other side of the group. "Uh-oh," she smirked, "Crowd control. Bobble's feeling territorial." I blushed as the other girls laughed.

Silvermist, having shaken off the laughter, touched my shoulder gently. "Aw, Bobble. There isn't any harm in him trying, is there?"

Personally, I thought it was a big problem, especially if it made that sparkly, snail-brained twit anymore God-like in Tinkerbell's eyes. However, since I couldn't think of an answer that _didn't_ sound whiney or jealous or petty, I had to go with, "No. No, I guess not."

Rosetta finished Iridessa's hair and wiped her hands on her skirt. "My goodness, sproutling, you don't get this upset when Tinkerbell wins the "Best Invention" award. What's the difference?"

Tired of the conversation, I pushed myself to my feet, dusted my hands on my pants, and turned to face Tinkerbell. Looking right into her eyes, I said, in all seriousness, "She deserves it."

With that I flew away, not stopping until I reached Tinker's Nook, where I disappeared into my workshop for the rest of the day.

***

I was still brooding over Terence's mutiny a week later, having spent the majority of my time in my personal workshop mulling over old blueprints I had stored away. I had an hour long sneezing-fit due to the dust they had accumulated over the time that they had sat untouched. After Tinkerbell's arrival, I spent less and less time in my shop just to be with her.

The reason that I was inflicting this new found sneezing torture upon myself was because of my new found purpose. I had begun to consider challenging Terence with a flying machine of my own- Actually, scratch the consideration part. I _was going_ to challenge him. And by doing so, I shocked most of fairy society.

Hey, I wouldn't have attempted under normal circumstances, but it had gotten personal. Not only was it a matter of heart, but when I returned to my workshop on that first day, I flipped through my old designs for a flying machine, only to have discovered that one of my blueprints had been taken.

I wasn't petty enough to sell him out. I'm tinker, not a fink. So, instead, I challenged him. I felt it my obligation as a tinker, and as the creator of _his_ machine. Sure, he had all the pixie dust that he'd ever need, but no amount of dust would save his sorry teapot if he butchered my design and created a piece of faulty machinery.

After hearing about my challenge, Queen Clarion actually decided that it would be the best idea to give the award to the winner of a race.

I was delighted. I mean, I had the upper hand right? Except, one thing did bug me. Tinkerbell. When she caught word of my decision, she became mad. Really mad. She even turned red. So, I was worried. I originally did this to get her to look at me, and now she was. Only, in her eyes, I looked more like a zero than a hero. But, it was too late to back down.

After careful consideration of all of my blueprints, I decided on one that uses wind-power. This meant, of course, I needed the help of a fast-flying fairy. Before I took this any further into consideration, I went to see Queen Clarion to ask permission if I could use help from anyone else. She agreed, seeing as it was only fair since Terence was allowed to use as much dust as he could possibly bring with him.

That was that. Now all I had to do was find the best fast-flyer to ask. A powerful one. One that likes to win...Vidia. Perfect.

However, it wasn't so perfect, because then I realized that I had a snowball's chance in Beach Cove that Vidia would actually _agree_ to help me. In fact, I was perfectly sure that she'd _never_ help me. I needed to think. How could I get her to help?

I needed to be...persuasive. Make her want to help me. I knew exactly what to do. She'd definitely say yes.

***

"No."

"Oh, please, Vidia, I really need your help," I pleaded, actually getting on my knees. Come on, she responds well to groveling. That, and I had already tried to talk her into it civilly. She wouldn't have it. I scowled inwardly, thinking that if there was an award for self-centeredness or vile-personality, Vidia would be a sure-fire win for it. The sad part is, she'd be proud. It'd mean she'd won. Ugh.

"Why should I?" she sneered, crossing her arms defiantly over her chest. Q.E.D.

"You would be more popular if you did..." I tried, hoping I could get her with her love of popularity.

Her interest was perked. Her eyes softened in curiosity as she looked down at my still kneeling form. "Popular? How?"

"If you help me, the others will see it as a kind gesture. The others look highly upon kind gestures."

I could practically see the gears turning in her head. I needed to say just a little something extra to seal the deal. "And...if I win using your winds, no one would ever question your power again. They'd know you're the top of the fast-flyers."

A smirk grew on her thin lips. I had her.

"Fine. I'll help. But, we'd better win," she warned, eyeing me dangerously.

I suppressed my urge to shudder and nodded. "I wouldn't have it any other way."

***

I worked endlessly for four days straight. I only stopped to snack and nap. But I finished it. It was beautiful.

Picture if you will, this: The basket, which was made of tree bark, was the shape of a teardrop, the point facing front to cut the air resistance. Four poles spaced perpendicularly on the rim of the basket climbed upward to meet at a point, forming a pyramidal shape above the basket. It had two different sails. The first was attached to a handle for steering. It was shaped like a ship sail and could be moved to catch the wind in different ways to steer the direction of the basket. The second sail was held up by the poles and formed what you humans call an umbrella shape and it was used for a floating effect, keeping the basket airborne.

After I finished it, I managed, although I'm not sure how exactly, to lift it onto a dolly that I attached to Cheese. As I was wheeling it out, Tinkerbell and I crossed paths. She stopped to look at me and we locked eyes. She seemed to have calmed down from her initial anger towards me, thankfully, but there was something else replacing it in her eyes. I couldn't tell what it was, and before I could spend too much time pondering it over, she broke our eye contact and walked away.

I fought every urge within me to drop the reins on Cheese and rush over to apologize for upsetting her. The sad part was, she was upset because she knew I was jealous. But, she didn't know why I was jealous. She probably just assumed I didn't want Terence to be a tinker in any way, shape, or form. Which was true, I didn't want him to tinker. But that's not why I did it. I was jealous of her feelings for him, but it's not like I could say that. She'd never feel the same. I knew that now, but I still had to get back the pride he took from me by stealing my blueprints.

With one last longing look in Tink's direction, I scooped up the reins and pulled Cheese along and I went in search of Vidia.

I found her near her home in the sour plum tree. She quirked an eyebrow as she saw my machine come into view. "That's what I have to work with?" she drawled, looking as if she were above it.

I glared behind my goggled and dropped Cheese's reins to cross my arms. "Don't mock it before you see how it works."

She shrugged and approached it, looking over every detail of my invention. "Fine, let's get to work."

I nodded as I tied Cheese to a nearby reed. "Stay here, boy." Dusting my hands, I walked back to my machine and jumped inside. Then I looked at Vidia expectantly.

"What?" she asked, looking confused.

"Get in."

The look on her face was priceless. I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing.

"Get in?" she grimaced, "In that thing?"

I rolled my eyes at her and drummed my fingers on the rim of the basket. "Yes. In. How else do ya think your going to maneuver it?"

Vidia scowled irritably as she climbed in. She got her revenge though. Her first wind knocked me to the floor of the basket and I could hear her laughing as I struggled to get back to my feet.

***

Vidia and I practiced for the remainder of the month that led up to the race. On the day of the big event, the fast-flyer stopped by my workshop while everybody else was gathered at the race sight.

As I was finishing up my polishing job, Vidia, who was propped against my work table watching me, spoke up. "Shouldn't you name it?"

I lowered my rag and gave her a quizzical look. "Name it?"

"Yeah, it's a ship, isn't it?"

I blinked owlishly behind my goggles. I hadn't even thought about that. Name it...

"I have an idea...." I said with a wistful smile on my face as I walked over to my paint shelf.

I could practically hear Vidia roll her eyes.

Dipping the brush into a container of dark green paint, I raised it to the side of the basket.

T-I-N-K-E-R-B-E....

"The Tinkerbell..." the fast-flyer scoffed, watching me work. "You're pathetic, you know that?"

I shot her a glare as I moved to the other side of the ship to repaint the name. And maybe I did feel a little pathetic. I had entered the race for her, but it caused me to lose her. I had avoided her for weeks and she probably hated me by now. In my mind, I had nothing to lose. I know I should've let it go, but it got too personal for me to let go. If I couldn't fight for my girl, I might as well fight for my pride.

We hooked the machine to its dolly and hooked it up to Cheese and made our way to the race sight.

When we walked to the starting point, I began to feel the pressure of the attention I was bringing upon myself. I wasn't used to it. I was used to being cooped up in Tinkers Nook, surrounded by other tinkers. The only other fairies I ever really communicated with were the girls that Tink hung out with.

I was drawn from my insecure thoughts as we approached Terence. My blood began to boil as I saw him leaning against one of_ my_ inventions. I knew it. I knew he's the one that took my design. He looked at me smugly. I watched his eyes graze my ship. They lingered on the name and I saw his face express his distaste in my choice.

It was then that I realized that I never considered how embarrassed I'd be to actually name my ship "The Tinkerbell." I hated myself for the first time in my life. Meekly, I glanced around the crowd until my eyes found Tink. Just my luck, she was staring at her own name on my machine. Just as I was deciding to look away, she looked right at me and caught my eyes again. I blushed what I'm guessing was a nice shade of crimson and she blushed as well. Then she smiled. _Smiled._

I could've died then and there, I was so happy. But I still had a race to win, so I turned away and unhooked Cheese and pulled the ship off of the dolly.

Vidia and I readied our ship at the starting point where Terence was already waiting in his- _my_, ship.

"Hey, Bobble," he called, catching my attention. I motioned for Vidia to wait as I walked up to him and his- _my_ ship.

Leaning over the rim, he quirked an eyebrow at me. I crossed my arms irately and waited for what he had to say.

"What do you say we make a side deal? Whoever wins gets Tink."

"No," was my immediate answer.

"What? Afraid to lose her?" he asked smugly, running his hands over the rim of his- _my_, ship.

"No. She's not a prize. I'm shocked that even _you_ would treat her so lowly." With that said, I turned and made my way back to the impatiently waiting fast-flyer.

Climbing into my ship, I nodded to Vidia to let her know to get ready.

Queen Clarion took her place on a balcony high above us, causing a hush to fall upon the crowd. I could feel myself get queasy. I couldn't help but think how _bad_ of an idea it all was, but it was way too late to back out.

The queen's loud and clear voice fell upon her silent kingdom. "Welcome, all of you. We all know that the winner of this race gets the "Biggest Impression" award at the ceremony next week. First, allow me to state the rules, and then we will get on with the race."

Cheers and whoops erupted from the crowd and Queen Clarion had to motion to silence them before she continued.

"The race is one lap around Pixie Hollow. You are only allowed to use the means that I've allowed. Terence: pixie dust. Bobble: Vidia's winds. Are we clear?"

The both of us nodded.

The queen nodded as she raised her hands. "Right then. Ready..."

We prepared our selves.

"...Set..."

I wanted to vomit. To run. To sob like a child, but I knew I had to do this.

"...GO!"

***

I don't remember much about the race. I do know that we started in Spring and we traveled clockwise through the seasonal worlds. In fact, I didn't even calm down until we reached Winter, which is odd indeed, since that was the last stretch and the part where most others would get nervous. Not that I still wasn't nervous, because I was. Terence and I had gone neck and neck the entire way. It was terrifying. But we were doing fine, no damage done, and Vidia and I agreed to save her last boost of power for the final, mad dash to the finish line.

We tumbled and swerved through the snow blanketed trees and, wonderfully enough, we were in the lead. In fact, Terence was no where in sight. At all...

I kept glancing over my shoulder, and when we made it to a clearing, I told Vidia to stop. She gave me a shocked look, but compromised by slowing down considerably. I waited. Nothing.

"He's gone..." I mumbled.

"Isn't that a good thing?" the fast-flyer questioned irritably.

"No...I mean...something went wrong. Pick up the winds, I'm turning around."

"Are you nuts? We can win this!" she snapped, glaring at me venomously.

"I _know_ we can win this. But it's not the right thing to do. Now turn it around!"

My yelling obviously shocked her, because she complied with my wishes and aided me in turning the ship around.

We skimmed the areas we had passed over earlier and traveled slowly and carefully through the trees. Noticing a patch of disturbed snow and broken branches, I instructed Vidia to turn in that direction and to lower the ship. We made it all the way to ground before we found the mangled mass that was Terence's- _my_ ship. He was lying next to it grumbling in pain.

I leapt from our ship and made my way over to him. "Are you okay, Terence?"

The blonde boy glanced up at me in shock. "What are you doing here? You can win. Why aren't you making your way to the finish line?"

"That's what I said..." Vidia's smug voice drifted over the snow bank.

I rolled my eyes and knelt next to him. "I can't just leave you here, can I? C'mon, take my hand. Anything broken?"

He grabbed my hand and I pulled him to his feet. He howled in pain as he wrapped his arms around his rib-cage. "I think I have a broken rib. And one of my wings is broken..."

I glanced over his shoulder and, sure enough, saw that his top left wing was bent horizontally.

I grimaced and aided him to our ship. Vidia pulled him up as I pushed him over the rim into the basket and climbed in after him.

"Can we go now?" the fast-flyer whined, motioning to the sky.

"Yes, Vidia, we can go now."

She raised her arms and the wind picked up.

***

We finally made it back to the finish line and the cheering that initially erupted was cut short when they saw our extra passenger. The medical fairies wasted no time in rushing in to help him.

Our win was declared a tie, which I though was fair, since he _was_ doing very well until he crashed.

Still wondering what made him crash? His ship was powered entirely by pixie dust. The wet, snowy winter air had washed the dust right off of his ship, causing him to crash. I couldn't help but laugh. You see, the ship he used was similar in design to what you humans call a helicopter. Only, the propellers are turned via hand-crank. He didn't know, he just picked the ship from my blueprints that was smallest and could use the least amount of dust. Long story short, he never built the crank.

Never tinker if you're not a tinker.

Anyway, after the crowd had dispersed, I thanked Vidia for helping. She actually didn't seem all that upset. I think she had fun, not that she'd ever admit to it.

She left and I began loading "The Tinkerbell" back onto Cheese's dolly. I don't know what made me glance up, but I did, and there was the real Tinkerbell, staring right at me.

"Hi, Tink," I greeted her meekly, securing my ship.

She smiled fondly at me and approached slowly. "Bobble… that was such a wonderful thing for you to do."

I knew she was talking about what I did for Terence. Figures. I wasn't surprised. In fact, I had accepted that she liked him. I missed being her friend, and if I couldn't have her romantically, I'd rather have her as a friend than not have her at all.

"I wasn't just going to leave him there. He needed help." I dusted my hands on my pants and stood up. She was less than a foot from me. When did she get so close?

"It was still a nice thing to do. I'm so proud of you Bobble. Not just for that, but...for all of this," she gestured towards my ship, "I've always wanted to see what made you such a great inventor."

I blushed deeply when she said that, her deep, blue eyes lighting up tremendously.

"Tink...I ...thank you, but I'm not that great," I stuttered, rubbing the back of my neck in embarrassment. She was so cute. And so sweet. It made me feel more terrible about my petty jealousy than I had previously felt.

She grabbed my shoulders gently and I turned to lock eyes with her. That happened a lot that day. "Bobble, don't say that. You are great. But...can I ask you one thing?"

I blinked nervously and readjusted my goggles. "What is it, Tink?"

"Why did you name your ship after me?"

Tumbling teapots! I knew that was coming. But, how could I possibly tell her? It was way too embarrassing...

Still, I had to try, right?

"I...um...ah...well...you see...I...er..." I fumbled with my mouth, making a complete and utter fool out of myself.

Smiling in that beautiful way of hers, Tinkerbell placed two fingers over my fumbling lips. I gulped, feeling like an idiot. Grinning cheerfully, she removed her fingers and replaced them with her own lips.

In shock, I stumbled back and ended up bracing myself against "The Tinkerbell." Irony at its best, I suppose.

It wasn't long before I kissed her back and we stayed that way for as long as we could without needing to breathe. We broke apart and she continued to rest against me, smiling up at me. "I love you too, Bobble."

I grinned like an idiot and hugged her tightly. I never wanted to let go.

You know, we didn't even go to the award ceremony...We were too busy watching the stars from the pond. We probably had more fun there than we would've had at the ceremony.

But, I did hear that I won the award for best invention. Fancy that...

End

A/N: I'm not even sure what made me write this, but I did. So, enjoy. Please review.

Pixie

(And her lovely beta Hiko-chan ^^)


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